Institution-building and the rule of law
In their cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs, the Parties shall attach particular importance to institution-building in the areas of law enforcement and the machinery of justice. This includes the consolidation of the rule of law.
In this context the Parties shall also ensure that the rights of nationals of both Parties are respected without discrimination in the territory of the other Party.
The provisions of this Article do not relate to differences of treatment based on nationality.
Movement of persons
Desirous of facilitating the movement of persons between them, the Parties shall ensure, in accordance with the relevant Community and national legislation in force, that the formalities for the issue of visas are carefully applied and executed and shall agree to examine, within the limits of their powers, ways of simplifying and speeding up the issue of visas to persons contributing to the implementation of this Agreement. The Association Committee shall periodically examine the implementation of this Article.
Cooperation in the prevention and control of illegal immigration; readmission
1. The Parties reaffirm the importance which they attach to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in relation to the exchange of information on illegal immigration flows and agree to cooperate in order to prevent and control illegal immigration. To this end:
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Algeria, on the one hand, and each Member State of the Community, on the other hand, agree to readmit any of their nationals illegally present on the territory of the other Party after the necessary identification formalities have been completed,
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Algeria and the Member States of the Community shall provide their nationals with the appropriate identity documents for this purpose.
2. Desirous of facilitating the movement and residence of their nationals whose status is regular, the Parties agree to negotiate, at the request of either Party, the conclusion of agreements on combating illegal immigration and on readmission. If either Party considers it necessary, such agreements shall cover the readmission of nationals of other countries arriving in their territory direct from the territory of the other. The practical arrangements for the implementation of the abovementioned agreements shall be laid down, where appropriate, by the Parties in the agreements themselves or in their implementing protocols.
3. The Association Council shall examine the possibility of other forms of joint action for the prevention and control of illegal immigration, including ways of detecting forged documents.
Legal and judicial cooperation
1. The Parties agree that cooperation in the legal and judicial fields is essential and a necessary adjunct to the other forms of cooperation provided for in this Agreement.
2. Such cooperation may include, where appropriate, the negotiation of agreements in these fields.
3. Civil judicial cooperation will in particular cover:
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strengthening mutual assistance with regard to cooperation in the handling of disputes or cases of a civil, commercial or family nature,
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the exchange of experience in relation to managing and improving the administration of civil justice.
4. Criminal judicial cooperation will cover:
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strengthening existing mutual assistance or extradition arrangements,
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the development of exchanges, in particular in relation to the practice of criminal judicial cooperation, the protection of individual rights and freedoms, action against organised crime and improving the efficiency of criminal justice.
5. Cooperation in this area shall in particular include the introduction of specialist training courses.
Preventing and tackling organised crime
1. The Parties agree to cooperate in order to prevent and fight organised crime, in particular in the following fields: human trafficking; exploitation for sexual purposes; the illicit traffic of prohibited, counterfeited or pirated products, and illegal transactions concerning, in particular, industrial refuse or radioactive material; corruption; the trafficking of stolen cars; the trafficking of firearms and explosives; computer crime; and trafficking in cultural goods.
The Parties shall cooperate closely in order to establish appropriate mechanisms and standards.
2. Technical and administrative cooperation in this field may include training and improving the effectiveness of the authorities and bodies responsible for fighting and preventing crime and the design of crime prevention measures.
Combating money laundering
1. The Parties agree on the need to work towards and cooperate on preventing the use of their financial systems to launder the proceeds of criminal activities in general and drug trafficking in particular.
2. Cooperation in this area shall include administrative and technical assistance with the purpose of adopting and implementing suitable standards against money laundering equivalent to those adopted by the Community and international authorities active in this field, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
3. Cooperation shall have the objective of:
(a)
training agents of the services responsible for preventing, detecting and combating money laundering, and officials of the judiciary;
(b)
appropriate support for the creation of specialist institutions and the strengthening of existing institutions.
Combating racism and xenophobia
The Parties agree to take appropriate steps to prevent and combat discrimination in all its forms and manifestations, whether it be on grounds of race, ethnic origin or religion, particularly in the fields of education, employment, training and housing.
Public information and awareness campaigns will be organised to this end.
The Parties shall in particular ensure in this context that all persons who consider themselves victims of such discrimination have access to judicial and administrative procedures.
The provisions of this Article do not relate to differences of treatment based on nationality.
Combating drugs and drug addiction
1. Cooperation shall be aimed at:
(a)
improving the effectiveness of policies and measures to prevent and combat the growing, production, supply and consumption of, and trafficking in, narcotics and psychotropic substances;
(b)
eliminating illicit consumption of such products.
2. The Parties shall determine together, in accordance with their respective laws, the strategies and cooperation methods appropriate for attaining these objectives. Their operations, other than joint operations, shall be the subject of consultation and close coordination.
Such action may involve the appropriate public and private sector institutions and international organisations, in collaboration with the Government of Algeria and the relevant authorities in the Community and the Member States.
3. Cooperation shall take the following forms in particular:
(a)
establishment or extension of social and health institutions and information centres for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts;
(b)
the implementation of prevention, information, training and epidemiological research projects;
(c)
the establishment of standards for preventing diversion of precursors and other essential ingredients for the illicit manufacture of narcotics and psychotropic substances, which are equivalent to those adopted by the Community and the appropriate international authorities;
(d)
support for the creation of special anti-drug trafficking services.
4. Both Parties shall encourage cooperation at regional and sub-regional level.
Fight against terrorism
In accordance with the international conventions to which they are party and with their respective laws and regulations, both Parties agree to cooperate with a view to preventing and penalising acts of terrorism:
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through the implementation in its entirety of United Nations Security Council resolution 1373 and other related resolutions,
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through the exchange of information on terrorist groups and their support networks in accordance with international and national law,
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by pooling experience of means and practices for combating terrorism, including experience in the technical and training fields.
Fight against corruption
1. The Parties agree to cooperate, on the basis of the relevant international legal instruments, on action to combat corruption in international business transactions:
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by taking effective practical measures against all forms of corruption, bribery and illicit activities of every sort in international business transactions practised by individuals or corporate bodies,
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by providing mutual assistance in criminal investigations into acts of corruption.
2. Cooperation shall also cover technical assistance for the training of officials and magistrates responsible for tackling corruption and support for initiatives designed to organise action against this form of crime.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
